Fruit-packing trays



Jan. 22, 1963 G. MARTELLI ET AL 3,074,532

FRUIT-PACKING TRAYS Filed 001:. 24, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR5 Gama MAKTEll/ flew/0M1? I 4% fimA/cesco M41? r51.

Jan. 22, 1963 G. MARTELLI ET AL 3,074,582

' FRUIT-PACKING TRAYS Filed pct. 24, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS United States Patent M 3,074,582 FRUIT-PACKING TRAYS Guido Martelli, Nerio Martelli, and Francesco Martelli,

Bologna, Italy, assignors to Compagnia Italiana Nestpack, S.p.A., Bologna, Italy Filed Oct. 24, 1957, Ser. No. 692,127 Claims priority, application Italy Oct. 31, 1956 1 Claim. (Cl. 217-265) This invention relates to fruit-packing tnays made of yielding organic sheet material and particularly from sheets of a thermoplastic resin, such as vinyl or acrylic resins, having a thickness of the order of one to three tenths of a millimeter.

The main object of the invention is to provide a packing tray in which each fruit is firmly maintained within a seat bounded by substantially rigid post like members.

Another object of the invention is to provide a packing tray which is easy to manufacture at small cost and in which the 'fruits are Well separated from one another and which permits supenposing many trays in a case, the weight of the superposed trays being borne by the post-like members which project above the top portions of the fruits inserted in their seats.

Another object of the invention is to provide fruitpacking trays in which said post-like members form a large part of the walls of efrusto-conical pocket-shaped seats whose walls are provided with longitudinal channels, corrugations or the like, which impart to the pocket a springiness in radial direction which permits the insertion into each pocket of a fruit having a larger diameter than the diameter of the pocket at mid height, the fruits remaining thus gently clamped in their pocket-like seats.

Other objects and advantages will appear from the following specification made with reference to the annexed drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary top plan view of a fruit packing tray made of thin synthetic resin and provided with fruit-holding pockets.

FIGURE 2 is a prospective view of two of the pockets shown in FIGURE 1, viewed from below.

FIGURES 3 and 4 are vertical cross sections on lines III-III and IVIV of FIGURE 1, respectively.

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary top plan view of another embodiment of fruitpacking tray.

FIGURE 6 is a vertical cross section on line VI-VI of FIGURE 5.

According to the embodiment as shown in FIGURES 1 through 4, the packing trays 1 are made of thin thermoplastic synthetic resin sheets such as acrylic or vinylic resin sheets having a thickness of the order of 0.1 to 0.3 mm. and comprise a number of bowl-shaped or frustoconical pockets 2 arranged in staggered relation, with their major bases or mouths substantially tangent to the mouths of two other pockets, so as to leave between each three pockets 2 a hollow post 3 formed by the arcuate, pocket sections, or webs 9 connecting a substantially triangular top part of the sheet with the bottoms of three adjoining pockets. In this embodiment, each pocket is surrounded by six of said posts 3. The side walls of the pockets are provided, preferably in positions offset from said posts 3, with deep longitudinal channels or turrows 4 which confer to the pocket side walls a sub- 3,074,582 Patented Jan. 22, 1963 The height of the posts 3 is substantially equal to that of the pockets 2 but greater than the diameter of the fruits to be inserted in the pockets, while the diameter of the pockets at mid height is somewhat smaller than the diameter of the fruits to be inserted therein, so that each fruit, when inserted in a pocket, is gently but firmly clamped therein by the channel walls which yield somewhat and bulge under the pressure of said fruits, although they usually do not adhere all around the fruits, but leave some free space acting as flue channel which provides for a slight aeration.

According to the embodiment as shown in FIGURES 5 and 6, the posts 103 of the trays .10 1 are of substantially greater height than the pockets 102 and are stiffened at their tops, as shown at 5 in FIGURE 6, where they are shown of greater thickness, while their arcuate wall portions 109 present a number of longitudinal corrugations or riflings 6 which enhance their springiness and provide better clamping of the fruits, while the channels 4 of the pocket wall-s between the posts 103 provide an additional yielding action and the formation of aeration fines. According to this embodiment, the top portion of the fruits remains better aerated due to the fact that the pocket walls between the posts do not reach the post tops.

Although certain specific embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, it is obvious that many modifications thereof are possible insofar as is necessitated by the prior art and by the spirit of the appended claim.

We claim:

A packing tray for tender or fragile articles and the like, comprising a film of synthetic resin, a plurality of flexible cup-like pockets formed in said film, said pockets being greater in height than article-s to be held therein, said pockets having side walls which taper upwardly and outwardly, said side walls each including six circumferentially spaced arcuate portions connected by outwardly disposed concave channels, the arcuate portions of adjacent pockets being adjoined and becoming thicker at their upper ends to iorrn a post, the pockets lying within the peripheral rows of pockets of the tray having each arcuate portion forming a portion of a post, said posts having relatively thick tops disposed in a generally horizontal upper plane, whereby said upper horizontal plane of the tray is substantially rigid while the lower portion of the tray is flexible.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,850,584 Gray Mar. 22, 1932 1,857,984 Swift May 10, 1932 1,967,026 Gray et a1. July 17, 1934 1,983,325 Swift Dec. 4, 1934 2,014,851 Kronenberger Sept. 17, 1935 2,233,044 Beck Feb. 25, 1941 2,423,756 Chaplin July 8, 1947 2,560,847 Chaplin July 17, 1951 2,636,660 Brown Apr. 28, 1953 2,657,998 Peters Nov. 3, 1953 2,688,557 Peters Sept. 7, 1954 2,742,709 De Woddy et a1. Apr. 24, 1956 2,752,251 Peters June 26, 1956 2,756,349 Frank July 24, 1956 2,844,268 Lambert July 22, 1958 2,885,136 Grant May 5, 1959 2,939,602 Grant June 7, 1960 2,971,685 Treida Feb. 14, 1961 

